Hello, dear readers. I am so happy to be back “in the land of the living” and back on-line. We have been in the middle of moving to a new house and things have been a wee bit crazy. A … Continue reading →

It doesn’t have a self-storing leaf, but four out of five ain’t bad. And the price was reasonable. SOLD! But not until I made a trip to Goodwill, just in case.

And behold!

She even came with four chairs and a self-storing leaf (which I didn’t know was there until I got her home and the hubs pointed it out). BONUS! And for $70, I was one happy girl. If it had all ended here, then I could have titled this post “Goodwill Hunting.” However, the saga continues.

See that orbital sander sitting atop the table? Well, I used it to knock the poly finish off. I sanded. And I sanded. Then I sanded some more. Then I realized I was using a fine grade sanding disk instead of a course grade. Had I read the package instead of just thinking “Oh, that dark color indicates a courser grade,” it would have been ready for stain much more quickly. Lesson learned. Kind of.

Then I took myself to the hardware store to get some stain. Like, just stain. Not the junk that already has the poly in it. JUST STAIN. She pointed to the ones I had described, I chose one, and was on my way.

It wasn’t until I got home and started applying it that I realized it had poly in it. And it was a mess. Had I read the can, I would have avoided the mess, but you know how hindsight works. Instead of panicking, I just went with it and finished out the job knowing that I could sand it down and start over if I wanted to. Guess what? I hated it.

I’m happy with the progress of the black chalk paint below, but wasn’t loving the streaky stain look on top. Time for more sanding. This time using the course grade first, then the fine grade. You know, because I can read. Yay me.

Finally, I was ready to apply actual, real, bona fide stain to the freshly sanded (for the second time) table top. It was going to be perfect. Then this.

Gouges! From the sander! Oh, the humanity! If you need me, I’ll be out on the driveway sanding this baby for the third time….BY HAND. Of course I could have avoided these shenanigans if I had actually read the packages of the products I was using. Don’t cry for me, blogland. But if you want to do some sanding, I know of someone in need.

Heavens to Betsy. I hate that I went MIA from blogland for so long, but it has been quite a week-and-a-half. Just as we were packing ourselves up to go down to H-Town for Thanksmas with the fam, I got slammed with the flu. The good news is that I realized it before I got down there and shared the love with those I love. More good news-Dr. Kyle, My Dude, and Blondie escaped the whole ordeal, which makes a mama sleep better at night. Yes, it was a bummer to miss out on all the fun (I may or may not have been blubbering when I called my mom to tell her), but my sweet people took great care of me. For that and so many other things I am thankful. Always.

I don’t know about you, but this late Thanksgiving thing this year kind of threw me for a bit of a loop. Just as we got the turkey put away, it was time to ramp up for Christmas. I still wasn’t feeling 100%, but my people were, so we turned on our favorite Christmas tunes and got after it. I should say that we are, because of buying and selling a house, keeping the Christmas crazy to a minimum, but we did have a great time getting the tree decked out.

Yes, that is garland of several descriptions and four calling birds on Blondie’s head. Why decorate the tree when you can decorate yourself?

And the tunes. I must say I’m not big on the classics, but throw Tom Petty, Bill Nighy, The Kinks, Run DMC, and The Barenaked Ladies into the mix and I’m all in. Everyone was dancing.

Like, everyone.

Truthfully Blondie did most of the ornament hanging and that is why you will see all of the ornaments sporting her school pictures squarely in the center of the tree. She’s a smart one.

Is your tree up and decorated? Did you go Christmas crazy, or tastefully minimalistic (that’s what I’m choosing to call it) this year? Tomorrow I’ll share a couple of fun (and easy)decor ideas just in case your tree need a little shot of book page craftiness. And let’s face it, what tree doesn’t? Happy Tuesday, readers. I’m glad to be back among the living!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Dr. Kyle has the coolest toys around, including a photo studio. Here’s our take on Grant Wood’s painting, American Gothic. And now you know why I needed a post on a good facial … Continue reading →